What Have We Done?

Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches

As the blood of US soldiers continues to drain into the hot sands of Iraq over the last several days with at least 27 US soldiers killed and the approval rating for his handling of the debacle in Iraq dropping to an all-time low of 38%, Mr. Bush commented from the comforts of his ranch in Crawford, Texas today, “We will stay the course, we will complete the job in Iraq.

Distinguished veterans, I am humbled as I type this reply to your article I have just finished reading on AfterDowningStreet.org.

God bless all of you! The bravest of the brave and truest of the true patriots of our nation. Your service to our country is appreciated. Do not think for one moment that your service is being seen in the same light as the disservices perpetrated upon this nation by its so-called commander-in-chief.

Speak loud and long until every hamlet in this country hears your stories and understands the gravity with which you all speak. This fight you have undertaken, along with all of the people who support the America of hope and promise, is for the preservation of our American Democracy. Bush's administration of false bravado is being exposed by your respective testimonies and it is critical that you continue to speak loud and long to force the mainstream media to report the truth as seen through your collective eyes.

May you find peace in your pursuit of the truth. People of good will all over this nation are behind you.

I just wanted to ask where were all of the veterans for peace during the last election. If my memory served me right, the veterans re-elected Bush a second term so that he can pillage and rape our country for his own gains. Where were you when the veterans of the swift boat lied about John Kerry and his war experiences. As long as you continued to talk tough in your comfortable convention hall without any action, more of our young men and women will die. Like in Viet Nam many young soldiers died and for what purpose. I was in Viet Nam and I can tell you this will become another Viet Nam. The similarity is extremely errie.

Thanks Dahr. Your reports are riveting. You have a way of getting into the heart of the matter.

Your speakers have touched upon something very positive, too: "Our only choice is to fight this to try to stop it from happening again."

The US has become a culture of unbridled violence, from our food, to our environment, to our relations with each other and the world.

None of this can be turned around without the police and the military reaching a turning point along with the rest of the American people and the world.

What we're doing in Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, Iraq and Afghanistan would never be tolerated here by us if those countries were doing to us what we're doing to them.

The rhetoric of "promoting democracy" is a distortion aimed to deceive innocent people into tolerating or promoting the violent exploitation of everything by the corporate chiefs in charge of capitalist globalization.

The veterans who speak out are the most powerful voice we can hear for truth and justice. They have seen the lie first hand and the betrayal of justice by our leaders. They have seen the ruthless betrayal of humanity at the hands of the global capitalist elites

What this administration has demanded of the military is criminal. This story should be on the front page of every newspaper in the nation. I challenge the newspapers to pick this article up. If you are a newspaper for the nation then tell American people what the returning military are going through. Better yet let them tell the story themselves as Dahr Jamail has done. We owe that much to our men and women who have served and are serving now. We owe it to the dead.

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